Centripetal Notion

miscellaneous badassery

Vibram FiveFingers



The first shoe from Vibram, maker of 32 million soles a year for more than 1,000 footwear brands. It’s a light-weight shoe, like Nike’s Free taken to the extreme, useful for any outdoor activities you’d rather do barefoot like running, boating, or rock climbing. Reviews seem to be mostly positive.

3 pings

  1. Trackback: Rebecca's Pocket on 9 Jun 06
  2. Pingback: Del.icio.us Tuesday, June 27, 2006 » LeliaThomas.Com on 27 Jun 06
  3. Pingback: Backcountry.com: The Gearu » Blog Archive » Vibram Magic Fingers on 16 Aug 06

18 comments

  1. Abi 07 June, 06 @ 2:00 pm

    I’m uncomfortable just looking at those shoes. How do they work out if you have funny feet? Not saying that I have funny feet or anything, but they seem pretty one-size-fits-all. Also, how sanitary is the trying-on process?

  2. Justin Ruckman 07 June, 06 @ 2:59 pm

    Ha! You’d have to have some seriously funny feet — they look pretty adjustable w/ the pull strap in the back. Although I guess oddly shaped toes would be a problem.

    I’d imagine most outfitters would require you wear some of those nylon socks to find your size — you’d have to cram your toes into them though. You could get a good fit just by holding them up to your feet.

  3. Chris 11 June, 06 @ 2:14 am

    Wow, these are really neat looking! I’d love to get a pair and wear them.

  4. Justin Ruckman 13 June, 06 @ 1:18 am

    As opposed to getting a pair and not wearing them? ;)

  5. Lelia Katherine Thomas 14 June, 06 @ 3:40 pm

    I’d love to wear these in public, because I just know people would stare. :p Oh, and they also look really comfortable, too.

  6. Justin Ruckman 14 June, 06 @ 5:17 pm

    Those are good reasons. Your website is beautiful! Welcome to 9rules.

  7. Lelia Katherine Thomas 15 June, 06 @ 1:05 am

    Thanks for the welcome, Justin! I’m glad you like it. :)

  8. Lord Joe Cooke 16 July, 06 @ 7:08 pm

    I own a pair of these shoes and they are fabulous. They’r so unique and defintly make a statment. They are also incredibly compfortable.

  9. Paul O'Connell 15 February, 07 @ 4:50 pm

    I live in Chicago. How can I find out about stores that carry them?

  10. Justin Ruckman 15 February, 07 @ 8:04 pm

    Paul: Check the dealer locater on Vibram’s website. Closest place to you is in New Jersey. You can buy online though, and could probably send them back if they don’t fit right.

  11. Taylor Mangi 07 March, 07 @ 12:52 pm

    yup i just bought a pair of of http://www.fivefingers.com and i got the wrong pair and they let me send them right back and got my the right size in less than a week! also they are amazing i do rock climbing and the vibram soles give me awsome grip plus i dont even feel like i have shoes on and thats amazing!

  12. clawrenck 26 September, 07 @ 3:14 pm

    I just ordered a pair and if I like them I will order more in diferent styles. Plus who cares about funny looking or not. The only question is do they work…They sold me…

  13. Peter 03 February, 08 @ 4:38 pm

    I just got the new version, the Fivefingers Sprint model, and took them on a 3 mile run for the first time. They feel amazing! I’m not a barefoot runner to begin with, but I’ve been hearing about the benefits of doing it for years. I have had chronic back pain since I started running track in college, and after using the Fivefigers my back hurts *less*. It’s not gone yet, but it certainly feels much better! They really help your posture. My advice for anyone using the Fivefingers for the first time is NOT to run in them on hills. Going downhill “barefoot” when you’re not used to it is uncomfortable. Uphill is fine. Go easy at first, ease into them.

    Great buy, I was very pleased, and would recommend these to anyone, especially people who are looking for an introduction to barefooting.

  14. Peekay 07 March, 08 @ 10:38 pm

    I love being barefoot. I have considered buying a pair of Five fingers for about 8 months. I even bought injinji toe-socks to help quench my thirst until I could go to a store to get the right size shoe. I couldn’t wait any longer and I ordered a pair through the mail. However, I just can’t tell if they are the right size even though I measured and re-measured my foot. There is a gap about half a centimeter at the back of my heel that I can tighten, but my little toe just seems ready to fall out and I am not sure about alignment of my big toe pad. . . so the question.
    For those of you with five finger experience, how does the heel and toe fit comparatively? I would be bummed if I sent them back and the next size is too small. Do you think there is some size discrepancies within between shoes of the same size?

  15. Gaston R. 09 May, 09 @ 10:17 pm

    Hi, I noticed that in the above pic there are a variety of colours that are not shown on the Vibram Five Fingers website (eg. yellow and white). Can anyone point me in the direction of website or store that might have these colours?? Thx.

  16. Arthur 11 January, 10 @ 6:23 pm

    I’ve been considering getting a pair of these for awhile. They look extremely comfortable, and I think they look kinda cool. If anyone has experience with these, how do you like them, and what do you like about them?

  17. Mark Martinez 25 April, 10 @ 4:16 pm

    Been hearing from friends about those Five Finger shoes. Makes ya think. It may look funny, but then again… sometime back I was looking up MDB shoes. And then something happened, Nike’s new style of sports shoes do resemble that function… got one and it does feel like walking on air. Okay, back to the Five Fingers, I heard some say avoid doing over 1/2 mile on your first time out. I guess it takes some adapting and getting used to. Word has it, it force your toes to be spread open.
    Mark Martinez,
    Testing out a.s. research hypergain like the energizer bunny

  18. Anna Penn 14 August, 10 @ 8:52 pm

    Do they have a soft insole in order to protect the sole of the foot from unlevel or ‘rocky’ surfaces?

Leave your own

You can follow any responses to this entry via its RSS comments feed. You can also leave a trackback if you like.

If you're looking for something specific then give the search form below a try:

Justin Ruckman